The impacts of the reform of the professional status of artists are becoming increasingly apparent. Much has been said about writers since the adoption of the new bill last June; it is also for visual artists and those in the arts and crafts that the changes are likely to be significant. What are we expecting in terms of crafts? Discussion with the Quebec Crafts Council (CMAQ).
“The different arts have such different practices and realities, it is difficult to satisfy them within a single framework” such as that of a law, immediately contextualizes the director general of the CMAQ, Julien Silvestre. And the particularity of crafts, he continues, is that artists and craftsmen are very autonomous. At the same time employees, employers, distributors, they have a profile that somewhat resembles, in the book world, self-published authors who distribute themselves.
“The economic value creation chain is very short in fine crafts”, and the issues are therefore different, even creating a small gap, dares the director. “Artists and craftspeople work alone, and on a short-term basis. The redesign, he believes, has come to settle the main tension points.
The major change brought about by the overhaul is to give recognition to craftsmen and allow their future promotion, because it is important, believes Mr. Silvestre, to “change the perception that Quebecers have of their crafts “. We sometimes see them more as producers of objects, small sales entrepreneurs than as creators.
“Only a ceramist of the caliber of Pascale Girardin, who signs the decorations of some of the greatest hotels in the world and the windows of iconic stores [Caesars Forum à Las Vegas, Printemps Hausmann à Paris, Saks Fifth Avenue à New York] is not better known in Quebec, for us, it is a symptom,” diagnoses Mr. Silvestre.
A union not for tomorrow
Now artisans are legally on the same footing as artists. Will the CMAQ, like the Union of Quebec Writers, engage in a series of actions aimed at improving the profession? Will it become a union, or create one for the 1,000 or so professional members of the CMAQ?
“I don’t have the answer today, that’s what we’re going to see,” said Mr. Silvestre, even if he is already advancing to say that he does not think of imposing union dues or starting major negotiations in fine crafts — if only because artists and artisans are accustomed to having direct and individual relations with institutions, and that the “management parties” are few in number and only have a few places (Quebec Museum of Crafts at the Cégep de Saint-Laurent, the Center d’art de La Sarre, and the Espace Pierre-Debain in Gatineau).
“We will wait two to three years,” asks Mr. Silvestre. To take the time, to see and hear, explains the director. “First, to find out how our environment will be restructured according to the new law. Then, to see how we are going to pursue our mandate under these new auspices, a mandate that includes dissemination (with the holding of events), representation and professional development. »
For professional development, for example, the CMAQ could collaborate on certain aspects with the Regroupement des artistes en arts visuels (RAAV), since some learning is shared. There are however, here too, divisions with the visual arts, where, in the university course, the approach and the intellectualization of the processes are much more valued.
Change material
“We expect our artists to be better paid,” assesses the director, especially during their presence in institutions. “We would like to be able to increase the places specializing in fine crafts, and also the visibility in the other museums. Maybe also rethink what we can do with the annual Salon des métiers d’art du Québec. We know that there will be better recognition of the work, and we will have more leverage if questions of copyright arise — which are different with us, since we have unique pieces and small series. . »
“Representing crafts means representing know-how in the transformation of materials, on a scale that goes from unique pieces to small production”, concludes Mr. Silvestre, to illustrate the diversity of methods of functioning.